Rodin OKs new policy on consultation

The rules deal with how students and favulty should be consulted in administrative decision-making. University President Judith Rodin announced her approval of a newly developed policy on consultation this week, outlining a procedure for administrators to consult with faculty, students and staff regarding developmental decisions at the University. The policy -- created by a University Council committee on consultation, which Rodin appointed in February 1998 -- acknowledges that faculty, students and staff "have a stake in the welfare of the community" and should be consulted in a timely manner about decisions that affect the campus community. The consultation policy applies only to broad-based developmental decisions -- including the creation of the Sansom Common retail project, Huntsman Hall and the University's 1997 decision to outsource facilities management to the Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. management firm -- and does not mandate consultation on academic decisions or issues like the current temporary ban on alcohol at all registered undergraduate events. The policy -- which will soon be added to the Handbook for Faculty and Academic Administrators, a guide that outlines the University's policies and procedures -- requires that other constituencies be consulted at the same time as the goals for the given project are being formulated and before a final decision is made. The policy was reviewed by the Faculty Senate before Council approved it and recommended it to Rodin at a January meeting. Faculty Senate Chairperson John Keene, a professor of City and Regional Planning and a member of Council's Consultation Committee, said the committee was originally formed because students, faculty and staff felt they had not been sufficiently consulted on the decision to outsource to Trammell Crow in late 1997. Since then, students also have complained that they were excluded from the decision-making process on projects like Sansom Common and the 1998 vending ordinance. Keene, who also heads Council's Steering Committee, said that the new consultation policy "is one of the most important steps that the University Council has taken." He explained that while lines of communication were previously open between faculty and administrators -- such as the regular meetings between the president, provost and Faculty Senate -- there was no official policy for consultation regarding developmental decisions such as the outsourcing of major construction projects. Consultation Committee Chairperson and Law Professor Howard Lesnick stressed the importance of the new policy, noting that "consultation seems to many of us to be a central value in an institution committed to communication." In a message to the University community written last month, Rodin called the new policy a "document that will help guide the consultative process at Penn in constructive and meaningful ways." She added that the policy excludes some business procedures in which the administration must maintain a level of confidentiality. By disclosing such negotiations to the public, Rodin said the "University's negotiating position could be severely undermined." University Council, composed of about 92 Penn faculty, students and staff members, meets monthly to advise the president and provost about issues that affect the University.

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